‘Good war’ vs ‘bad war’: An examination of TIFF’s offerings in the ‘shadow of a genocide’

This year's edition of the film festival posed an interesting question — what does it mean to be human in the face of destruction?

Narendra Pachkhédé
27 Sep, 2024
IMAGES/DAWN

How does one navigate the vibrant chaos of a film festival in the shadow of an ongoing genocide? This weighty question loomed large in my mind as I immersed myself in two films at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) — From Ground Zero and Russians at War — while other poignant narratives such as No Other Land and Viktor beckoned for consideration.

These films help us grapple with the complex emotional landscape and ethics that shape our collective experience in these turbulent times, urging us to confront the ethical dilemmas that persist long after the last credits roll. It compels us to confront the paradox of our existence — the allure of heroism entwined with the horror of destruction, inviting us to grapple with the ethical complexities that underlie our narratives of violence and redemption. Cinema transforms war into a mirror reflecting our deepest truths — showing us not just the chaos of battle, but the moral quandaries that linger in its aftermath. Through its lens, we grapple with the cost of conflict and the enduring question: what does it mean to be human in the face of destruction?
When cinema blinks


A scene from No Other Land



In No Other Land, directed by Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor, the viewer is thrust into the rugged landscape of Masafer Yatta, a region reeling from a court ruling that dismisses the residents’ long-standing fight against the illegal seizure of their homeland. Adra, an activist armed with both a camera and a law degree, serves as both narrator and anchor; having lived his entire life in this encroached territory, he aims to illuminate his community’s struggle against relentless Israeli occupation.

While the villagers are aware of the larger forces at play, the film focuses on their immediate struggles, driven by an undeniable urgency. The documentary immerses viewers in the stark realities of Masafer Yatta, tracing the lives of its inhabitants from 2019 to 2023 with a poignant immediacy. The film paints a vivid portrait of resilience amidst adversity, juxtaposing serene moments — like Adra’s quiet attempt to rest as a bulldozer rumbles ominously above — with the visceral chaos of confrontations captured in raw, handheld footage.

Rather than wading into the murky waters of geopolitical debate, Adra and Abraham, an anti-occupation Israeli journalist, zero in on the intimate struggles faced by the villagers, illuminating their humanity in the face of relentless encroachment and occupation. Each frame pulsates with a sense of urgency, revealing how the residents navigate the daily grind of existence under siege, where each mundane act becomes an act of defiance.

The documentary powerfully conveys that while broader political narratives loom in the background, the heart of the film lies in the lived experiences of those who call this contested land home. In this landscape of tension and uncertainty, No Other Land resonates as a profound exploration of survival, reminding us that in the face of overwhelming odds, the quest for dignity and belonging remains an unwavering force.


A scene from Viktor



In Viktor, another war tale, this time from Ukraine, we see in the protagonist, Viktor, a deaf war photographer, navigating the vagaries of a nation at war. Starting a day before the first day of the conflict and running through the first year, director Olivier Sarbil introduces us to Viktor Korotovskyi, a deaf Ukrainian citizen desperate to fulfil his duty and against all odds becoming an official press photographer, working near the front lines. He gets inside the head of his subject, employing subjective swings in the audio soundtrack to either mute or muddle what’s being perceived, bringing hearing audiences into the compromised sonic space of Viktor himself.

The film delves deeply into the intricate bond between war and the often unspoken compulsion to serve one’s country, revealing the profound desperation that drives individuals to such lengths. It lays bare the human instinct to sacrifice, not just out of duty, but from a need to find purpose amidst the chaos, portraying the silent yet powerful forces that compel people to offer themselves to the cause, even when the cost is unimaginable.

Viktor envelops its audience in the depths of auditory isolation, using a delicate interplay of cinematic techniques to invite us into the silence that governs Viktor’s reality. The absence of sound heightens each visual detail, creating an unsettling immersion. By weaving between muffled whispers and distorted soundscapes, the film offers hearing viewers a visceral glimpse into Viktor’s fragmented experience of reality. By manipulating the audio to oscillate between muted whispers and muddled soundscapes, the film immerses hearing audiences into Viktor’s disorienting, compromised world of sound, allowing them to experience the fractured reality that shapes his perception.

Viktor captivates not only through its portrayal of the war photographer at its centre but also in what his lens reveals in stark, arresting black and white. As much a study of Viktor as it is of the fractured worlds he captures, the film draws power from what lingers in the shadows, making it a profoundly reflective meditation on war, memory, and the act of witnessing. As Viktor declares, “Silence is not emptiness; it is not the absence of something. It is the presence of the self and nothing else. In this silence, I find my peace.”
We have not been able to see past the fog of war

In the Western world, the narrative is sharply divided between a ‘good war’ and a ‘bad war’ — where Israel’s actions are framed as ‘self-defence’ while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is condemned. Amid this, Canadian-Russian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova’s Russians at War finds itself ensnared in controversy. The film has drawn fierce backlash from the sizeable Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, who vehemently oppose its portrayal of the conflict, accusing the filmmaker of “humanising the Russians soldiers”.


 

Pro-Ukraine protesters at the festival.


Politicians have weighed in, amplifying tensions, while funding bodies like TVO disavowed their connection, giving credence to the documentary as ‘Russian propaganda’ — a term now wielded to fit shifting political agendas.

Four days earlier, the same TVO, in a statement released on September 6, claimed: “Russians at War is at its core an anti-war film. It is unauthorised by Russian officials and was made at great personal risk to the filmmaker, who was under constant threat of arrest and incarceration for trying to tell an unofficial story. This film shows the increasing disillusionment of Russian soldiers as their experience at the front doesn’t jive with the media lies their families are being told at home.”

Amid this tumult, TIFF cancelled the programmed screenings, ultimately permitting a double screening after North America’s largest film festival drew to a close, under heightened security, surrounded by vocal protesters, underscoring the fraught intersection of art, politics, and public sentiment.

Russians at War unveils the complex realities of life of a motley group of Russian soldiers amidst existential compulsions, ideological tensions, and unravelling war, revealing the humanity often obscured by political narratives. It is as if the film followed in the footsteps of John Steinbeck’s Russian Journal, alongside renowned war photographer Robert Capa, an incisive eyewitness account of the Soviet Union during the nascent Cold War.

Captured over seven months, this documentary immerses viewers in the lives of a disparate band of Russian soldiers — conscripts and volunteers alike — grappling with the stark challenges of survival in the tumultuous landscape of Russian-occupied Ukraine, where the lines between fighting and enduring blur. Boredom and the slowness of war on the frontlines envelop the viewer, as myriad personal intentions, stories of friendship, and the nurturing of love gradually peel away the layers of narrative surrounding the brutal Russian invasion.


A scene from The Bibi Files



In sharp contrast is The Bibi Files, directed by Alexis Bloom, which delves into the murky depths of corruption enveloping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While the film faced minimal resistance to its release — save for Netanyahu’s legal attempts to stifle it — the compelling leaked footage at its core presents a unique dilemma. This very evidence, vital to the film’s investigation, complicates its screening in Israel, where it risks prejudicing potential jurors and further entangling the political narrative it seeks to expose.

In From Ground Zero, the gaze reverses. It offers an urgent, intimate glimpse into the human toll of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, far beyond the scope of news bulletins. The victims and subjects of the genocide speak, each frame is an expression of raw emotion, creating a deeply personal narrative of survival, loss, and the fragility of existence under siege. From Ground Zero — a powerful anthology of 22 distinct voices from filmmakers within Gaza — stands as a harrowing yet vital testament to the enduring human cost of war.

A scene from From Ground Zero

Each film poignantly underscores that, beneath the broader geopolitical narrative, it is individual lives that are irreversibly altered. Both unflinching and heart-wrenching, this collection confronts viewers with the visceral realities of conflict, demanding our attention and empathy. It is not merely an artistic endeavour but an essential document of survival and suffering, a necessary reckoning with the ongoing devastation. Initiated by director Rashid Masharawi, born and raised in Gaza to a family of refugees originally from Jaffa, through the Masharawi Fund, this project grants Palestinian filmmakers an artistic outlet in the face of impossible conditions.

In one of these 22 works that stuck with me, Sorry Cinema by veteran Gazan filmmaker Ahmed Hassouna offers a letter of apology to the art form, saying he is unable to continue working as he has to ensure his family’s survival. Ahmed, having never seen his films on a big screen or showcased at festivals, declined Masharawi’s offer to join the project. Grieving the recent loss of his brother and trapped in the isolation of North Gaza where aid arrives only by air, his refusal spoke to the weight of personal and collective tragedy. The film is a moving tribute to cinema, as much as it is a poignant perspective of a creative’s life amidst war.

It is pertinent to point out that this anthology from Gaza was first accepted at the 77th Cannes Film Festival after which its director Thierry Fremaux informed director Rashid Masharawi about their inability to screen the collection of 22 works as they want “a festival without polemics”. The 2022 Cannes Film Festival kicked off with a live video message from Ukrainian President Zelensky, bringing the urgency of war to the heart of cinema’s grand stage.

In 2024, Masharawi organised a protest screening in Cannes: “We carried out the media campaign ourselves, set up the tent, issued our publications, established a refugee cinema, showed the Gaza sea, and provided dates and coffee — which we serve in houses of mourning — to honour the souls of the more than 37,000 martyrs. We are filmmakers. The world must hear us. We want our voice to be heard, because we exist.”
Excavating cinematic memories

In the invocation of the influence of Robert Capra by the director of Russians at War, my mind wandered to two individuals — Rade Serbedzija who played the character of a native Macedonian war photographer in Before the Rain, and Abu Zubaydah in Can’t Get You Out of My Head by Adam Curtis.


A scene from Can’t Get You Out of My Head by Adam Curtis



Curtis’ ambitious six-part documentary series, with a total runtime of approximately eight hours, explores the psychological and political evolution of modern society, tracing the shift from collectivism to individualism. With his signature blend of archival footage, Curtis delves into the forces shaping our contemporary world — power, paranoia, and the disintegration of shared meaning.

The series interweaves stories of individuals, ideologies, and revolutions, presenting a complex narrative about the consequences of unbridled individualism and the manipulation of collective fear. It’s an epic reflection on the chaotic, fragmented world we now inhabit. In one haunting vignette, Curtis lingers on the fractured psyche of Abu Zubaydah, a man whose mind, shattered by CIA torture, serves as a chilling metaphor for collective disarray.

Curtis almost declares, “We’ve all become like Abu Zubaydah’s brain,” yet wisely holds back, inviting viewers to explore this unsettling parallel for themselves. Abu Zubaydah’s tale, however, extends beyond his personal torment; a shell fragment lodged in his brain since 1991 leaves him trapped in a liminal world of fragmented memories — mirroring the way we, too, grapple with a fractured reality that eludes coherence.

As if vindicating, and despite the zeitgeist, the festival’s People’s Choice Award turned a wary eye from the pressing realities of today, opting instead for a nostalgic inward gaze. The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal celebrated musical lore with tender reverence, while The Life of Chuck, with its forlorn tale, took the crown. Yet, amid these echoes of the past, one is left to ponder — how long can we cradle the comforts of memory while the world outside unravels, demanding not just our awareness, but our urgent response?

However, for me two films, Ground Zero and Russians at War, offered a pertinent point of entry in the times when we are conditioned to create the the uncomfortable dichotomy of ‘good war’ versus ‘bad war’; they stand as bookends to the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, caught in the tumult of American cancel culture, providing a fertile ground for exploring how we collectively process and respond to the visceral realities of contemporary loss, pain, memory, conflict, war and genocide.

They invite us to examine not just the cinematic stories unfolding before us, but also the deeper emotional resonances that challenges our understanding of empathy and complicity. In this context, the festival transforms into a space not merely for entertainment, but for a deeper reckoning with the moral imperatives of our time.

‘Free Speech absolutist’ X suspended over 5 million accounts in first half of 2024

Carl Deconinck

27 September 2024

The first transparency report X published since its takeover by Elon Musk shows the platform still moderates its users heavily.

The company suspended five million users, removed or labelled ten million posts, and banned 2,361 profiles, in the first six months of 2024 alone.

Yet only 0.0123 per cent of posts violated one of the platforms rules, it said.

X said it currently used “a combination of machine learning and human review” to enforce these rules.

In 2022, 460 million accounts were reportedly suspended for spam, but this separate category of offences was not included in the latest report.

Nearly two million posts containing violent content were removed, while the platform made 370,588 reports to the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

Abuse and harassment were the most frequently flagged offences, accounting for 36.47 per cent of total reports, regarding 81 million posts.

Another sizeable category of offence was hateful conduct, with almost 67 million reports, nearing 30 per cent of total reports.

In the first half of the year, X sent 370,588 reports of child exploitation—as mandated by law—to the CyberTipline run by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). More than 2 million accounts actively participating in child sexual abuse media (CSAM) were suspended, said X.

For comparison , in 2023 Facebook and Instagram sent a much higher number of more than 3.7 million NCMEC Cybertip Reports for child sexual exploitation.

Of those, 3.6 million related to shared or re-shared photos and videos that contained child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Articulating its new ethos under Musk’s ownership, X said its “policies and enforcement principles are rooted in human rights,” adding its approach was based on “Freedom of Speech” instead of “Freedom of Reach.”

X, arguably, has become even more helpful towards governments under Musk.

X received more than 18,000 government requests for information in the first six months of 2024, and complied with 52 per cent of those cases.

The previous transparency report, from 2021, showed Twitter “fielded 11,460 requests” and complied with 40.2 per cent of them. This suggested the platform cooperated with governments worldwide substantially more since Musk took over.

The absolute number of government requests increased, from 11,460 to 18,000, and the platform was also complying with a higher percentage of those requests (from 40.2 per cent to 52 per cent).

The report also categorised X’s content moderation efforts, detailing its actions across safeguarding children, combating harassment, preventing self-harm, removing non-consensual intimate imagery, and addressing illegal services.

Before Elon Musk’s 2022 takeover, X published these reports every six months. More recently, one had not appeared between 2021 and 2024.

Fundamental labels and categories did not change, with removals, flagged content, and government requests for information still the principal measuring sticks of the platform’s transparency efforts.

But the current report was substantially shorter than previous ones. With all charts and tables included, it still only consisted of 15 pages compared to the previous report’s 50.

X’s new willingness to obey governments made a sharp contrast with Musk’s initial promises when he bought the platform, when he argued governments systematically bullied social media and tech leaders.

 

Australia’s forgotten global anarchist

Features, Sep 27th

Jack Andrews was Australia’s leading proponent of communist-anarchism and a key figure in the international anarchist movement

~ Tom Goyens ~

Born in Bendigo in 1865 to London-born parents, John Arthur Andrews grew up in Melbourne, where his father worked as chief clerk for the Victoria Mines and Water Supply Department. As a child, Andrews was frequently bullied at school. In 1879, he enrolled at Scotch College, graduating two years later. After his father died in 1882, Andrews took a job in the same department, earning a good salary. However, he quickly became disillusioned with the work. A budding writer, he once won a prize for a poem celebrating the eight-hour workday.

Andrews’ growing interest in freethought and socialism further distanced him from his bureaucratic life. His dissatisfaction peaked in 1886 when he was fired shortly before Christmas. His physical and mental health deteriorated, and he may have even considered suicide. In early 1887, he joined the Melbourne Anarchist Club, though he was initially sceptical of anarchism. After a period of rest in Dunolly, Andrews returned to the Club as a committed anarchist and soon became a journalist advocating communist-anarchism.

J.A. Andrews | takver.com

By 1889, Andrews was corresponding with several international anarchist publications. A polyglot fluent in languages including Latin and Chinese, he immersed himself in the ideas of Russian revolutionary Peter Kropotkin, whose works appeared in La Révolte. That same year, Andrews published “Communism and Communist-Anarchism” in Benjamin Tucker’s Liberty. He argued that revolution was simply about casting off oppression, not waiting for it to fade away.1 According to historian Bob James, Andrews also contributed to two Portuguese anarchist publications.In 1890, a severe economic downturn plunged Australia into depression, leaving thousands unemployed. Jack Andrews made his way to Sydney, where he joined German-born anarchist and florist Joseph Schellenberg at his farm in Smithfield, on the outskirts of the city. Together, they formed a “Communist Anarchist Group” affiliated with the Australian Socialist League, issuing a manifesto to promote their ideals.2

That August, Andrews sent a report on the maritime strike to Johann Most, editor of Freiheit in New York, which was published in October 1890. Andrews believed Melbourne was on the brink of a general strike and possible revolution, with anarchists playing a key role in educating workers and running soup kitchens for the unemployed. Later, Freiheit published Andrews’ essay, “Anarchismus in Australien,” which he may have translated himself.3 It seemed that the German-Australian anarchists were the only organised game in town. “There is no consolidated party whatever to back us up,” he reported, “except in Adelaide where there is a small group of German Anarchists who contributed £4 [to Andrews’s periodical Reason] and do their best to push on the circulation in that city.”4

By early 1892, Jack Andrews faced severe financial hardship and tramped for months in search of work. Despite his struggles, he remained committed to writing and anarchist agitation. He established a correspondence with historian Max Nettlau, a key figure in documenting global anarchism. Andrews’ letters, written in a candid and personal tone, conveyed the isolation and difficulty of being an anarchist in Australia. “The movement in Australia,” he wrote, “appears more disintegrated than it has ever been.”

For Andrews, staying in touch with comrades, both locally and abroad, was not just a tactical necessity but also a source of psychological support: “if I can keep in active communication with others interested in the movement it will keep me going.”

Through these connections, Andrews had access to a range of foreign anarchist publications, such as El Combate, La Révolte, and Les Temps Nouveaux. In return, he shared Australian papers and pamphlets with Nettlau and other international anarchists, contributing to the broader exchange of ideas. His own writings would soon appear in anarchist publications across Europe and the United States, keeping his ideas in circulation despite the challenges he faced at home.5

The Labor Call (Melbourne), July 9, 1908

In the early 1890s, Jack Andrews, without steady work, continued his anarchist agitation by publishing several short-lived papers such as Reason and Revolt, often produced with minimal resources. He joined the Active Service Brigade in 1893, a radical direct action group for the unemployed, which became a constant thorn in the side of Australian conservatives. Through both mainstream and labour presses, Andrews defended anarchism, contributing polemical articles that challenged the status quo.

In December 1894, Andrews was arrested and charged with seditious libel for his outspoken writings. Convicted the following year, he served five months in jail, during which the authorities confiscated all his papers, pamphlets, and drafts, a significant blow to his efforts.

After his release, Andrews returned to Melbourne and resumed his anarchist work. In the fall of 1895, he began contributing regularly to Les Temps Nouveaux, the newly launched anarchist journal edited by Jean Grave, which succeeded La Révolte. He also became a correspondent for The Firebrand, a prominent communist-anarchist paper published in Portland, Oregon. For two years, Andrews provided detailed and lucid articles on anarchist organization, revolution, property, and communism, as well as reports on the anarchist movement in Australia. In 1897, The Firebrand even offered Andrews a position on its staff, but due to financial constraints, he was unable to afford the voyage to the United States.

Jack Andrews’ correspondence with anarchists across the United States and Europe revealed the existence of a deeply integrated global anarchist network. His involvement in this network was vital in linking Australia’s isolated anarchist movement to the larger global currents of anarchism, despite the practical challenges he faced. These connections facilitated the constant exchange of news, ideas, and materials. Editorial offices of anarchist papers functioned not just as places to produce content but as international clearinghouses, where printed materials from around the world were reviewed, serialized, translated, advertised, or forwarded to other periodicals.

A glimpse into the letter-box section of any anarchist paper showcases the polyglot nature and transnational logistics involved in producing each issue. Language served as a practical tool for gauging the movement’s reach. International anarchist news was often categorized by country, but anarchist publications were typically grouped by language. For instance, the Italian-language section of anarchist media might include papers from the United States, Argentina, Tunisia, and Italy.

Translators were essential in this polyglot network, constantly in demand to bridge linguistic divides. The idea of a centralised translation bureau gained traction among anarchists and was revived in the mid-1890s by Alfred Sanftleben, a German anarchist who operated under the name “Slovak.” From his home in Zürich, Sanftleben established a translation service, placing ads in major anarchist newspapers like Freiheit, The Firebrand, and Les Temps Nouveaux. His “office” became a hub for translating and distributing anarchist books and pamphlets across borders. Andrews made use of this service. In 1896, Sanftleben wrote to him requesting information on the anarchist movement in Australia, along with radical papers. Andrews, fluent in French, sent a report in English to be translated for Les Temps Nouveaux. This report, “Our Movement in Australia,” was first published in May by The Firebrand in English, and a condensed French version appeared in Les Temps Nouveaux that July.

Alfred Sanftleben (1871-1952). Kate Sharpley Library

Despite his undeniable talent as a writer and translator, Andrews struggled financially and never achieved the international prominence of anarchists like Pietro Gori or Peter Kropotkin. He died of tuberculosis on July 26, 1903, in Melbourne. His untimely death — he was thirty-eight — cut short a life dedicated to anarchist ideals, limiting his potential as a global figure within the movement.

DESANTISLAND

FLASH FLOODING |
Several dead as ‘catastrophic’ Hurricane Helene hits Florida as one of the largest storms to strike US


Officials urge evacuations due to catastrophic winds and storm surge




Hurricane Helene's projected storm path.




A drone view shows boats as Hurricane Helene intensifies before its expected landfall on Florida’s Big Bend, in Carrabelle, Florida, U.S. September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Marco Bello.




Amber Hardin, 27, spends time with her dog Ducky while taking shelter from Hurricane Helene at Leon High School near downtown Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. Photo: Reuters

Hurricane Helene made landfall on Thursday in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm as forecasters warned of “catastrophic” flooding along the Gulf Coast.

The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said Helene roared ashore around 11.10pm local time near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast. It had maximum sustained winds estimated at 140 mph (225 kph).

Officials have forecast storm surges of up to 20 feet (six metres) and warned they could be particularly “catastrophic and unsurvivable” in Florida’s Apalachee Bay.

Hurricane warnings and flash flood warnings extended far beyond the coast up into northern Georgia and western North Carolina.

Strong winds already cut power to nearly 900,000 homes and businesses in Florida, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. The governors of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas and Virginia all declared emergencies in their states.

Catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding, including numerous significant landslides, is expected across portions of the southern Appalachians through Friday.

Two people were reported killed in a possible tornado in south Georgia as the storm approached.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee issued an “extreme wind warning” for the Big Bend as the eyewall approached: “Treat this warning like a tornado warning,” it said in a post on X. “Take shelter in the most interior room and hunker down!”

Helene arrives barely a year since Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Big Bend and caused widespread damage. Idalia became a Category 4 in the Gulf of Mexico but made landfall as a Category 3 near Keaton Beach, with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph).

The storm’s wrath was felt widely, with sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts along Florida’s west coast.

Water lapped over a road in Siesta Key near Sarasota and covered some intersections in St Pete Beach. Lumber and other debris from a fire in Cedar Key a week ago crashed ashore in the rising water.


Beyond Florida, up to 10 inches (25 centimetres) of rain had fallen in the North Carolina mountains, with up to 14 inches (36 centimetres) more possible before the deluge ends, setting the stage for flooding that forecasters warned could be worse than anything seen in the past century.

Heavy rains began falling and winds were picking up in Valdosta, Georgia, near the Florida state line. The weather service said more than a dozen Georgia counties could see hurricane-force winds exceeding 110 mph.

In south Georgia, two people were killed when a possible tornado struck a mobile home on Thursday night, Wheeler County Sheriff Randy Rigdon told WMAZ-TV. The damage was reported as heavy thunderstorms raked much of the state. Wheeler County is about 70 miles (113 kilometres) southeast of Macon.

Forecaster Dylan Lusk said the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Wheeler County at 8.47pm on Thursday. He said it is one of 12 tornado warnings the office near Atlanta issued for parts of Georgia between 1pm and 11pm.

Many were heeding the mandatory evacuation orders that stretched from the Panhandle south along the Gulf Coast in low-lying areas around Tallahassee, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Lake City, Tampa and Sarasota.


Among them was Sharonda Davis, one of several gathered at a Tallahassee shelter worried their mobile homes would not withstand the winds.

She said the hurricane’s size is “scarier than anything because it’s the aftermath that we’re going to have to face”.

Federal authorities were staging search-and-rescue teams as the weather service forecast storm surges of up to 20 feet (six metres) and warned they could be particularly “catastrophic and unsurvivable” in Apalachee Bay.

“Please, please, please take any evacuation orders seriously!” the office said, describing the surge scenario as “a nightmare”.

This stretch of Florida known as the Forgotten Coast has been largely spared by the widespread condo development and commercialisation that dominates so many of Florida’s beach communities. The region is loved for its natural wonders — the vast stretches of salt marshes, tidal pools and barrier islands.


“You live down here, you run the risk of losing everything to a bad storm,” said Anthony Godwin, 20, who lives about a half-mile (800 metres) from the water in the coastal town of Panacea, as he stopped for petrol before heading west towards his sister’s house in Pensacola.

School districts and multiple universities cancelled classes. Airports in Tampa, Tallahassee and Clearwater were closed on Thursday, while cancellations were widespread elsewhere in Florida and beyond.

While Helene will likely weaken as it moves inland, damaging winds and heavy rain were expected to extend to the southern Appalachian Mountains, where landslides were possible, forecasters said.

The hurricane centre warned that much of the region could experience prolonged power outages and flooding. Tennessee was among the states expected to get drenched.

Guests at the Magic Kingdom break out ponchos at Cinderella Castle (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)


Helene had swamped parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, flooding streets and toppling trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun.

In western Cuba, Helene knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses as it brushed past the island.

Areas 100 miles (160 kilometres) north of the Georgia-Florida line expected hurricane conditions. The state opened its parks to evacuees and their pets, including horses. Overnight curfews were imposed in many cities and counties in south Georgia.

“This is one of the biggest storms we’ve ever had,” said Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

For Atlanta, Helene could be the worst strike on a major southern inland city in 35 years, said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.

In further storm activity, Tropical Storm Isaac formed on Wednesday in the Atlantic and was expected to strengthen as it moves eastward across the open ocean, possibly becoming a hurricane by the end of the week, forecasters said.

Officials said its swells and winds could affect parts of Bermuda and eventually the Azores by the weekend.

In the Pacific, former Hurricane John reformed on Wednesday as a tropical storm and strengthened on Thursday back into a hurricane as it threatened areas of Mexico’s western coast with flash flooding and mudslides.

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador raised John’s death toll to five as communities along the country’s Pacific coast prepared for the storm to make a second landfall.

Amnesty International calls for immediate release of Cameroon youth organization’s detained supporters

Reza Hossaini | Newcastle Law School, GB

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024 

Amnesty International called on Cameroonian authorities on Thursday to immediately release three supporters of a youth organization—Moustapha Tizi, Mohamadou Ballo, and Ibrahim Oumarou—and their relatives.

Tizi, Ballo, and Oumarou were allegedly arrested on September 9 in Figuil, Cameroon for wearing shirts with the name of the organization they supported “Pouvoir au Peuple Camerounais” (PPC) on it. The sister of a PPC spokesperson, Hapsatou Issa, was also allegedly arrested on September 9 and her son, who brought his detained mother food, was also arrested. According to Amnesty International, the detainees were subsequently transferred to various detention centers in Garoua, Cameroon on September 13.

Fabien Offner, a researcher at Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa office, condemned the arrests. He said:

In recent years, anyone who dares criticize the authorities, whether a human rights defender, a journalist, an activist for the Anglophone cause or a demonstrator, runs the risk of being arbitrarily arrested and detained, tortured and tried by military courts in violation of the country’s international human rights obligations. Unfortunately, this trend is likely to increase as the presidential election approaches[.]

Amnesty International also noted that activist Junior Ngombe was allegedly arbitrarily detained from July 24 to 31 after he criticized another activist’s arrest on TikTok.

Relatedly, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said he “called on political parties, across the spectrum, to commit publicly to the human rights cause, notably to ensuring the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly will be defended in the context of the 2025 and 2026 elections” upon visiting Cameroon in August.

Transparency International currently ranks Cameroon’s public sector as one of the 40 most corrupt in the world, with a corruption perceptions index score of 27 out of 100.

From a Hurting Heart: On the Execution of Marcellus Williams

Laura Finley

 September 27, 2024
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Marcellus Williams.

There’s no other way to write this outside of the extensive curse words I want to use: What, the actual, hell? How on earth does the United States have such a deeply flawed system of injustice that the state of Missouri executed a man that both the defense and prosecution believed was innocent? My heart is heavy. How about you?

The state of Missouri executed Marcellus Williams on Tuesday, September 24. He was convicted of a murder committed in 1998. It was apparently a burglary gone wrong that resulted in the killing of former newspaper reporter Lisha Gayle. Williams was sentenced to death.

There is significant evidence that Williams was wrongly convicted. The original prosecutor, Wesley Bell, sought to block the execution out of concerns about the trial. Bell had concern about two of the primary trial witnesses as well as how prosecutors excluded Black jurors. Further, there was no DNA evidence tying Williams to the crime scene. In fact, the DNA found on the knife used in the murder was actually from a prosecutor and investigator who processed the scene without wearing gloves. Repeated DNA testing found no connection to Williams.

The victim’s family as well as several jurors who served on the trial expressed doubt about Williams’ guilt and wished to spare his life. Inexplicably, none of this was enough to commute Williams’ sentence to life in prison because it did not establish his “actual innocence.”

The witnesses who did testify, as is often the case, were seemingly trying to game this messed up system. One who shared a jail cell with Williams and to whom he allegedly confessed, had been convicted of felonies and offered reward to testify. Likewise, a girlfriend who testified likely falsified her claims for financial gain.

Williams’ case is yet another example of how the system of capital punishment is broken beyond repair. The absurdity that everyone can agree that someone is innocent but that bureaucratic issues prevail is not a sign of a healthy system of justice.

I care a lot that Marcellus Williams was apparently wrongly convicted and certainly wrongly executed. We should all, because executions take place in our names with our tax dollars. We need to speak up, not just when the system gets it so horrifically wrong, as it did here, but because if we do not, our silence is endorsement that the state killing people is OK. I cannot live with that. I hope others cannot as well.

As many have pointed out, making a mistake in convicting someone is a fixable problem–unless the punishment is the death penalty. Then a fix is forever impossible. Why would we operate this way?

I am feeling so distraught, yet I am still trying to see a glimmer of hope. As a college professor, I am so fortunate to work with amazing students who I think will do better. I have the most wonderfully smart daughter who I know will be part of the solution.

I can’t stop crying. We can’t stop trying.

Laura Finley, Ph.D., teaches in the Barry University Department of Sociology & Criminology and is syndicated by PeaceVoice.

The Judicial Murder of Marcellus Williams

Jeffrey St. Clair

 September 27, 2024
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Marcellus ‘Khaliifah’ Williams. Photograph: Courtesy of Marcellus Williams’s legal team.

The State of Missouri executed Marcellus “Khalifah” Williams on Tuesday night despite knowing he was most likely innocent of the crime he was condemned for.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though he’d consistently professed his innocence of the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle.

The State of Missouri put Marcellus Williams to death by injecting him with a toxic chemical compound known to cause extreme pain and suffering.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though the prosecutorial office that put him on trial determined that his conviction should be vacated.

The State of Missouri executed Williams after several jurors who voted to convict and sentence him to death said they now regretted their verdict and wanted to see him freed.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though the state admitted that the physical evidence used to convict him had been mishandled and tainted by a sloppy police investigation.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though there was no physical evidence to tie him to the murder scene.

The State of Missouri executed Williams, although the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense.

The State of Missouri executed Williams despite the fact that prospective jurors in the case who were black were arbitrarily excluded from the jury. 

The State of Missouri executed Williams even after it was revealed that his prosecutor excluded a Black juror because he said the juror “looked like Williams’ brother.”

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though his jury consisted of 11 whites and one black.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though the two witnesses against him were known liars.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though the two witnesses against him were both felons.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though the two witnesses against him changed their stories multiple times before the trial.

The State of Missouri executed Williams after both witnesses against him learned of a $10,000 reward offered by the family of the victim.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though both witnesses against him were given lenient treatment in pending legal cases.

The State of Missouri executed Williams, although false testimony from “incentivized witnesses” is the leading cause of wrongful convictions.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though one of the witnesses against him was a jailhouse informant.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though eleven of the 54 individuals exonerated in Missouri were convicted with the use of testimony from jailhouse informants.

The State of Missouri executed Williams despite data that defendants in St. Louis who were convicted in capital cases were 3.5 times more likely to receive the death penalty if the victim was white and the defendant white, as in Williams’s case.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though he’d transformed his life while in prison, becoming an imam, a mentor to other prisoners, and a poet. Even on death row, Williams remained, according to his children, a “dutiful” father.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though nine years ago, the Missouri Supreme Court stayed his execution and appointed a special master to review DNA testing of potentially exculpatory evidence. 

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though DNA testing conducted in 2016 showed that Williams was not the source of male DNA found on the murder weapon.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though he was granted a stay by then-Governor Eric Greitens on August 22, 2017, after eating his last meal and just hours before he was scheduled to be put to death.

The State of Missouri executed Williams after the new Governor, Mike Parson Parsons, illegally dissolved the Board of Inquiry before it had a chance to issue its report on the DNA evidence that cleared Williams of the murder.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though St. Louis District Attorney Wesley Bell said that the DNA results and lack of other evidence in the case “cast inexorable doubt on Mr. Williams’s conviction and sentence.” 

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though the DNA expert who reviewed the evidence in the case asked, “How innocent do you have to be to avoid being executed?”

The State of Missouri executed Williams even after Williams and prosecutors reached an agreement that he would enter an Alford plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life without parole. (The plea was not an admission of guilt and would not have prohibited him from appealing his conviction.)

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though a judge approved the plea deal.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though Gayle’s family urged that his life be spared. (The desires of families of murder victims for retributive justice are often used by prosecutors to justify the execution of death row inmates. But when these families oppose killing people in the name of their murdered loved ones, their wishes and moral beliefs are ignored.)

The State of Missouri executed Williams despite any evidence that executions are a deterrent to homicides or other crimes.

The State of Missouri executed Williams after 6 “pro-life” justices of the Supreme Court refused to issue a stay to review evidence proving his innocence.

The State of Missouri executed Williams after a Supreme Court that has granted only 11 stays of execution out of 270 requests in the last ten years denied his. 

The State of Missouri executed Williams after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris refused to speak out against the execution of an innocent black man.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though at least 200 people on death row have been exonerated since the reinstitution of the death penalty in 1973.

The State of Missouri executed Williams after the Democratic Party removed its opposition to the death penalty from its platform. The 2020 and 2016 Democratic platforms called for the abolition of the death penalty, which they described as “a cruel and unusual form of punishment” which “has no place” in the nation.

The State of Missouri executed Williams, knowing that the state’s Attorney General’s Office has opposed every innocence case for the last 30 years.

The State of Missouri executed Williams even though at least 20 likely innocent people have been executed in the US since 1989. Their names are:

+ Carlos DeLuna (Texas, executed 1989)

+ Ruben Cantu (Texas, executed 1993)

+ Larry Griffin (Missouri, executed 1995)

+ Joseph O’Dell (Virginia, executed 1997)

+ David Spence (Texas, executed 1997)

+ Leo Jones (Florida, executed 1998)

+ Gary Graham (Texas, executed 2000)

+ Claude Jones (Texas, executed 2000)

+ Cameron Todd Willingham (Texas, executed 2004)

+ Sedley Alley (Tennessee, executed 2006)

+ Troy Davis (Georgia, executed 2011)

+ Lester Bower (Texas, executed 2015)

+ Brian Terrell (Georgia, executed 2015)

+ Richard Masterson (Texas, executed 2016)

+ Robert Pruett (Texas, executed 2017)

+ Carlton Michael Gary (Georgia, executed 2018)

+ Domineque Ray (Alabama, executed 2019)

+ Larry Swearingen (Texas, executed 2019)

+ Walter Barton (Missouri, executed 2020)

+ Nathaniel Woods (Alabama, executed 2020)

The State of Missouri executed Marcellus Williams, making him the 21st person executed in the US since the reinstitution of the death penalty despite credible evidence of their innocence.

The State of Missouri executed Marcellus Williams and plans to execute Christopher Leroy Collings in December.

The State of Missouri plans to execute another innocent man, Robert Roberson, on October 17.

Jeffrey St. Clair is editor of CounterPunch. His most recent book is An Orgy of Thieves: Neoliberalism and Its Discontents (with Alexander Cockburn). He can be reached at: sitka@comcast.net or on Twitter @JeffreyStClair3.